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May 12, 2013

Things My Mom Taught Me (Part 23)

Passage: 1 Peter 5:5-11

Preacher: Tim Badal

Series:Strangers in a Strange Land

Detail:

Please open your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter, chapter five.  Our heading today is “Things My Mom Taught Me.”  It’s not per se a Mother’s Day message, but a reminder of some of the simple truths and themes that Peter is going to share in our lesson that my mom also taught me over and over again. 

We’re in a series entitled, “Strangers in a Strange Land.”  .  We’ve been in 1 Peter over 25 weeks, enjoying what we’ve been learning together as a church.  We’re going to be finishing this series this month;   I’m not sure if I’m going to break the last passage into two weeks or just finish it up next week. 

In June we’ll start a five-week series in the Old Testament book of Haggai entitled “Consider Your Ways.”  So we’ll go from a lengthy sermon series down to a five-week series hoping and praying that these series are an encouragement to you. 

Let’s look at 1 Peter 5:5-11:

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.  Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  8 Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.  10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  11 To him be the dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

Let’s pray. 

Father God, we come before You and thank You for the blessing of our mothers.  We pray that You would bless and encourage them; that You would protect and watch over them.  We thank You for the diligence and service they have done for us and for You, Lord.  I pray that we would truly bless our moms, not only today but each and every day; that we would be grateful, kind and encouraging for the blessing they’ve been to us.

Now Lord, as we turn to Your Scripture, we are reminded of themes that our earthly mothers have taught us over and over again.  Lord, as we learn about humility today—the importance that humility plays in the hearts of believers—we also look at the issue of adversity from our enemy, the devil and are reminded of the security we find in You. 

So Lord, I pray that these truths we’ve learned in our families and  our time together as a church would change and renew us; that we’d be ready for a new week—in school or work, in our neighborhoods and our homes—that we truly would be a vibrant and healthy people who serve You and You alone.  In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

As Peter closes out his letter of 1 Peter, we come to the end of chapter five, and Peter shares some words that remind me a great deal of principles my mom taught me.  Things like “humility” and “adversity” and the truth of “security.”  Each one of these are things I’m so thankful my mom taught me throughout the years.  I am blessed to have a mom who absolutely loves God and who showed me what it is like to love the unlovable.  I am blessed to have a mom who has loved me despite all my frailties and faults, even through times where she has had to bail me out of trouble.  I have a mom who has shown me what it means to love as Christ loved us. 

Mom has taught me a lot about humility, as well as adversity.  She has honored God in her successes; in the good times and in the bad.  .  Mom lost her first-born son at the age of 16 and she showed me what it is like to honor God through the sorrows of life. .  She has shown me what it means to love as she has loved my wife and children.  I am blessed to have a wonderful mom and a wonderful wife.   Let us not grow weary in showing our mothers and wives how much we love them.  We are a blessed church because we have wonderful women in this church who serve the body of Christ well. 

Peter shares some principles that a lot of our moms taught us.  Our moms teach us a lot about daily life, don’t they?  Let me share some things that my mom taught me.  When I shared these with Amanda, she said, “Share the nice things first and have some fun with the moms.”  So that’s what I’m doing.  I’m being a good husband who listens to his wife.

My mom has taught me some important lessons and I think your moms have taught you some things as well.  I heard these statements lot as a kid:

  • Mom taught me to appreciate a work well done.  “If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside because I just finished cleaning.”
  • Mom taught me religion: “You’d better pray it will come out of the carpet.”
  • She taught me time travel.  “If you don’t straighten up I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week.”
  • She taught me logic: “Because I said so, that’s why.”
  • She taught me the importance of foresight: “Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident.”
  • She taught me irony: “Go ahead and keep crying because I’ll give you something to cry about.”
  • She taught me the science of osmosis: “Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”
  • She taught me stamina: “You sit there until all your vegetables are gone.”
  • She taught me about weather: “Looks like a tornado went through your room.”
  • She taught me about hypocrisy: “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times—don’t exaggerate.”
  • She taught me about the circle of life: “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.”
  • She taught me about envy: “There are millions of less-fortunate children in this world who don’t have a wonderful mom like you do.”
  • She taught me about anticipation: “You just wait until we get home.”
  • She taught me about genetics: “You’re just like your father.”
  • And my favorite one, and I’ve heard this a lot—she taught me about justice: “One day when you have kids, I hope they turn out to be just like you.”

Our moms teach us a lot, don’t they? 

Now seriously, Peter has a word for us that’s very mom-like, a word that reminds us who we are and what we are called to do in a world of trouble and pain and sorrow.  Amidst adversity, we are called to rise above it all because we can know and recognize that our God in Heaven has securely placed us in His hands.  If we desire to be a vibrant group of Christians, if we desire to be healthy followers of Jesus Christ, we need to listen to these motherly words from Peter. 

Humbling Yourself Under God’s Mighty Hand

If we want to live vibrant and healthy Christian lives and experience God’s blessings, it involves humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand.  Notice verses five and six:  “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you...”

Four times in two verses Peter uses the word ‘humble.’  Do you think Peter wants us to focus on this word humility?  You better believe it.  He wants to drive into our heads and into our lives that humility is of great importance.  My mom taught me what humility is like.  She taught me that it is not good to live this life as an arrogant and proud individual.  And that came from God—God desires us to be a humble people.  So Peter begins to address that we as Christians must be humble.

What does that word ‘humble’ or ‘humility’ mean?  Literally in the Greek it means “to bring back to ground level” (tapeinophrosynē).   Some of us right now are way too high on ourselves.  Far too many of us find ourselves on level eight, nine and ten when we should be on the lobby floor because that’s where God wants us.  You see, humility is something that’s hard to gain.  Pride is a hard thing to break. 

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn is that of humility.  When I first started to preach, I was having some human success in ministry and I remember someone who came up to me after a service and said, “Wow Tim, you are really a good preacher.  You do great work with ministries.  Everything you touch turns to gold.”  He wanted to affirm me in my role and affirm the ministry I was doing.  I remember my shoulders moved back a little, my head tipped up a little.  I felt really good about myself.  I remember thinking, “Wow, someone’s really noticing the hard work.  They’re right—I am doing a good job.  I am really good at what I do.”  I remember ruminating on that because it sounded really good; it made Sundays feel really good.  For a while, I just loved thinking about those words, especially when I was down.  But I remember having a bad taste in my mouth when I said those things to myself.   Sometimes pride begins to take away our common sense and one day God said, “You know what, son?  You’re a couple levels too high.  I need to bring you back down to ground level.”

In less than a year God worked in my life to take away my joy and my ability to do ministry without Him being totally involved.  And do you know what God reminded me of every time I  got to the end of myself?  “How you doing there, Midas-touch boy?  How’s that ‘turning to gold’ going on?”  God reminded me and taught me humility.

Humility is a bitter pill for us to swallow.  The world elevates pride and arrogance.  The world says we are number one, we are important, we come before everybody else.  But the Scriptures make it abundantly clear: humility is the name of the game if you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Now notice a couple things about this text.  The word humility is in what the English language calls the “aorist imperative.”  That means we must pursue this humility right away, not when we grow older, not next week, but right now.  We need to make a decision that we are going to pursue the humility that God has called us to live in once and for all. 

He also says it is to be done in what we call the “passive voice” which means you can’t get humble on your own.  You need someone else to help you.  And the only Person Who can help you with humility is God.  Notice what he says.  “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).  You want to be a humble individual?  Then you need to stand before God and say, “God, I need You.     I need You—every hour I need you.”  Until you do that, pride and arrogance will penetrate your life.

This means we need to no longer assess ourselves through our own eyes, but through the eyes of God.  We need to say, “God, I am not going to assess who I am according to my own thoughts.”  Because what we do is look at another person’s life and compare ourselves.    

Of course we’re going to look better than that person next to us.  We usually find the absolute worst person in the room and compare ourselves to them and say, “Well, I’m doing really well.  My life’s together.  Look at the job I have, look at the money in my bank account compared to that person.  Life is good.”  

But God says, “If you want to be humble, start defining yourself according to God’s definition.”  When you begin doing that you begin to get a lot smaller and God begins to get a lot bigger. 

Surrendering Your Status

What does this humility involve?  Instead of pursuing your own agenda, your own pursuits—instead of pursuing what you want at the expense of others, you give up your prerogatives for the sake of others.  Now why is humility so important?  Because the Bible tells us it was at the heart of Jesus.  Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6-7).  He learned obedience—obedience even involving death on a cross (Hebrews 5:8).

You see, we need to understand that at the very heart of Jesus Christ is a heart of humility.  So Peter says a follower of Jesus Christ must be humble.  Christ had to learn humility.  Now that seems odd because God seemingly knows everything so He would not need to learn anything.  But God did not understand humility in an experiential way until He put on flesh.  He did not understand—why?  Because He is not a humble God.  He is a proud God.  He is a gloried God.  God revels in Who He is and what He has done.  Jesus put on flesh, He came to this earth and He humbled Himself.  He suffered by the very nature of the incarnation, by putting on skin and living like one of us.  He learned humility.

You and I need to learn humility as well.  Now Peter himself had learned humility through  a major fall.  In front of all the disciples, he told Jesus, “Everybody else will fall away, but not me, Jesus.  I’m here to the end.  I’m there.  I’m going to stick with You.”  And then Jesus has to turn to him and say, “Peter, before this night is through you’ll disown Me three times” (Mark 14:26-31).  He learned that lesson of humility.  The Scriptures tell us that he went outside of Jerusalem and he wept bitterly, because he began to learn and understand humility (Mark 14:66-72).

We talked a few weeks ago about humility literally being putting on the apron of service.  Peter learned that from Jesus.  At the end of John Jesus challenge Peter, “Hey, if you want to be fully restored in My Kingdom, then serve My lambs.  Serve My sheep.  Tend to them.  Feed them.  Be humble.  Don’t lord it over them, but with compassion and love minister to them as you minister to God” (John 21:15-19).

I like how the Amplified Bible puts this verse:  “Humble yourselves, therefore—that is, lower yourselves in your own estimation.”  We need to surrender the status we think we have.  But notice it goes beyond that. 

Casting Your Cares on Him

Before we address the end of verse six —“…the mighty hand of God…” —we have to go to verse seven.  In verse seven, Peter tells us humility is going to be fleshed out in our lives by dealing with anxiety and worry.  You see, the proud try to right every wrong.  I know some of you think as I do: “Well, I’m not that proud.  I don’t think very highly of myself.  I don’t have to be the one who is talked about all the time.  I don’t need my name in the lights.  I’m not a very proud person.”

Well, let me change the definition for you.  Are you the one who tries to fix everything?  When trouble comes, are you looking for ways to fix it?  When anxiety and worry come, are you trying to address those issues in your own strength and in your own way?  Peter says the arrogant and the proud will hold on to their worries—will hold on to their anxieties—but the humble will cast their concerns on to God. 

But what does he mean by this word ‘anxiety’?  The Greek word (merimna) literally means “to divide.”  Isn’t that what worries and cares do to us?  They divide us.  Physically we may be at a birthday party or a celebration, but anxiety and worry have us emotionally at a funeral where we’re broken-hearted, where we’re dealing with the concerns and ills of this world, where we find ourselves divided.  Anxiety and worry distract our thinking; they disrupt our peace; they disturb our souls. 

It has been said that anxiety and worry give a small thing a big shadow.  It is like a rocking chair, someone said of worry: “It gives you something to do but it gets you nowhere.”  It’s also been said by Oswald Chambers—that faithful Scottish pastor—about worry and anxiety, “It is an indication that we think God cannot look after us.”  Let me say that again because this is at the core of pride.    When we worry, when we are anxious and we don’t give those things to God, Chambers says it’s an indication that we think God cannot look after us. 

There’s not a more proud statement than that.  “God, I have to worry about it because You’re not.  I have to deal with it, God, because You’re not.”  That’s pride.  That’s arrogance—not humility. 

John .R. Rice said this about the issue of anxiety, “It is putting a question mark where God puts a period.”  That’s why the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

Notice—and this is very important—Peter doesn’t tell you to stop worrying about things.  He doesn’t say that your worries and concerns are not real.  No.  I love the realism of the Scriptures.  Peter says there are things to worry about.  There are things to be anxious about.  Worry and anxiety remind us that there are important things in our lives. 

I don’t worry about the Chicago White Sox.  I don’t care.  I have no worries about them.  I don’t lose sleep when they’re winning or when they’re losing (they’re doing a lot of losing right now).  I don’t have any concerns about them.  They’re not important to me. 

But I do worry about my family.  I worry about my kids.  I worry about the church.  Many of you know I run a business as well—I worry about that.  I worry about finances.  I worry about my health and my family’s health.  Why?  Because those things are important.

Peter is not saying your worries and anxieties are not important.  He’s saying they are important—they are central to who you are—you need to put them in the right place.  Isn’t that great that Peter announces that?  He says, “Hey, what you are concerned about, what you are worried about—it is important stuff.”  It isn’t like God’s saying, “Oh, c’mon Badal.  Who really cares about those things?”  No, God says, “They’re important to you—that means they’re important to Me so I want you to put them on Me.”

Notice He says we need to cast (epiriptō) them on Him.  A poem was once written that said,

I’ve walked life’s path with worry,

Disturbed and quite unblessed,

Until I trusted Jesus,

Now faith has given rest.  (Anonymous)

You see, one of the reasons we don’t give our concerns over to God is we don’t trust Him with them.  We don’t think He can handle them.  Maybe we don’t think He’s concerned about them.  One of the reasons we are prideful is that we think we can do a better job than God can with our issues.  So a choice has to be made.  When we have anxieties and worries, are we going to hold onto them ourselves, trying to deal with them in our pride and arrogance, or are we going to cast them on God?  

That word ‘cast’ is an important word.  Peter was a fisherman and he’s using a term from his fishing days.  Now we think of casting a thin line out when we fish but that’s not the kind of fisherman Peter was.  They used big nets that had rocks attached to them and they would cast them—throw them—into the water.  The rocks would sink to the bottom of the lake and then they would pull in their catch with ropes.

Peter is saying you need to release—throw off—the nets of anxiety in your life.  You need to let them go.  You need to release them into God’s hands.  This word “casting” was also used on Palm Sunday when they found the donkey that Jesus was going to ride.  They threw their garments on for Jesus to sit on—the idea is releasing something on to something else. 

I see this idea of casting every Monday morning.  There’s a man who always comes by our house, driving a big green truck with the words “Waste Management” on the side of it.  He takes all our garbage from the curb and he literally casts it into the truck.  You see, like our garbage, your worries and concerns are not to stay in our front yards.  They’re to be cast into the proper place.  And just as garbage goes into the garbage truck, worries and cares for the believer don’t stay in our lives—they get hurled—they get tossed, they get cast—into the arms of God.  If you can’t do that, then I can tell you right now that pride and arrogance are what’s keeping you from doing it.

Peter says humility will allow you to give your cares to God.  The idea here of care isn’t just a little care here and a little care there.  No, it’s all the cares of life.  You take life and you cast it into the hands of God.  You give it to God. 

Other Scriptures talk about this.  Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34), said, “Hey.  Why do you worry about what you’re going to wear?  Why do you worry about what you’re going to eat?  Look at the birds in the sky; look at the flowers on the ground.  Don’t they have everything they need?  Don’t worry about tomorrow.  Don’t worry about today.  Seek first My Kingdom and My righteousness, then everything you need will be given to you.  You let Me worry about it.  You stay faithful.  You stay true to My Word and I will take care of the rest.”

You and I need to cast our cares—anxieties, things that distract and divide—we need to give them to God.  Why?  Because He cares for us.  God loves you.  If you’re a child of His, God has promised to be there.   He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you.  No matter what your care, no matter what your concern, God is there and He genuinely cares for you.  Your worries and cares are important to Him because you’re important to Him.

My youngest son came to me with some worries and was so downtrodden.  He said, “Dad, I’m having a bad day.”  

“Why, son?”  

“My chain came off my bike, Dad.”  My heart broke because he’s my son.  I don’t want him to be downtrodden over a broken chain.  So we went and fixed it.  He was right in coming because he knew his dad cared for him.

Trusting His Timing

Here’s the thing we need to understand about God’s care:  If we are going to cast our anxieties on Him we must not only surrender our status and cast our cares on Him, we also have to trust His timing.  Back in verse six Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”  You see, when worry and anxiety hit us and we’re concerned, we tend to say, “Okay, God.  I’ll give it to You but I need it fixed by Monday.  God, I’ll give it to You, but here is how You have to fix it.  You have to do it my way.”   This is where pride comes in.

Do you hear the arrogance in that?  Do you hear the pride? We say, “Well, I don’t say that.”  But we think that.  “God, I’ve got this medical issue.  You have to fix it and You have to fix it now.  I’ve got this financial issue.  I’ve got this issue with my child or with my spouse.  Lord, I need You to fix it this way.”  There’s pride and arrogance there. 

We need to throw our cares and anxieties onto God and say, “God, I trust Your way and Your timing.  You deal with it.  I’m okay with whatever You do with it.”

Many of you know this is not my only job—I also run a catering company—so I know what it means to worry.  These past few years haven’t been all that easy.  They’ve been up and down to the point of asking if we’re going to have to lay off people.  Is it time to close down?  These are scary times with lots   of uncertainty. 

About five years ago I got tired of staying up late worrying about my business.  I finally went to God, humbled myself and said, “God, 5-B’s Catering is Yours.  It’s not mine.  You’ve got to make it work.  You’ve got to be the One Who causes the phones to ring.  You’ve got to line up the opportunities for business.  I’m giving it to You.” 

I can’t be an effective follower of Jesus if I’m worrying all the time about business.  Can I tell you how freeing that has been?  It’s freeing to recognize the world doesn’t revolve around pork chops.  My eternity isn’t staked on how good business is but on the almighty power of God Who saved me.  When I rejoice in that, when I revel in that, it’s a whole lot easier to go to work each day.  “God, if you want to bless me and double the business, I’ll praise You.  God, if you want to close this thing down, I’m going to praise You.   My life doesn’t revolve around my concerns and anxieties, it revolves around You.”

That’s where we need to be—we need to trust God’s timing.  What a word of encouragement for these people who were under persecution, these people who had concerns, these people who had issues and struggles just like we do.  God had promised to exalt them in His right time.  And God one day will exalt us.  It may not be during our lifetimes. 

Some of you are suffering and enduring hardships right now.  God may not exalt you during this life.  He can; it’s totally within His prerogative to do so.  God may not right every wrong in this world in our generation.  But here’s the truth: Jesus Christ lived His life, endured hardship, struggled, went to the cross—enduring all that reviling and terrible torment the world threw at Him—and it wasn’t until Christ had been faithful to the very end that He was exalted to the highest place, that “at the name of Jesus every knee would bow and every tongue would confess” (Romans 14:11).You see, some of us have the idea that our good days are coming here and now.  We’re never promised that.  We’re promised one day, when we stand in glory, that He will wipe away every tear and we will have no more pain, no more sorrow (Revelation 21:4).  For all of eternity, we will live at peace with our God.  It is on that day that we will be exalted.  It will be on that day that we will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

 Bracing for the Battle

As if anxiety isn’t enough, we need to brace for the battle.   Peter is reminding these people that there’s plenty more to be worried about.  Peter wrote this letter about 65 to 67 A.D.  We know that by 70 A.D., about 35 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, things were really bad for believers.  Nero was in power.  This is history; this is not make-believe.  Nero unleashed an absolute persecution all over the Roman Empire.  Christians were arrested, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they were hung up on street lamps, covered with oil and set on fire to light the streets of Rome.  Do you think they had some bad days?  They were locked up in prison; their meager belongings were taken from them.  Peter himself, tradition tells us, was in prison and then crucified upside-down for his stand for Christ.  For 250 years the church endured unbelievable amounts of persecution. 

Peter reminds us “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.”  It’s not Nero we have to worry about.  It’s not the cold, heartless world we live in that we have to worry about.  We have to worry about the devil—this beast who wants to tear us limb from limb.  Peter reminds us of this truth.  He says we have an opponent.  He says—just as our mothers did—that we need to be careful.  There’s a bad world out there. 

My mom used to tell me about “stranger danger.”  I laugh at wife and sisters-in-law.  Their mom used to tell them when in doubt, honk if you don’t know who the person is.  I can just imagine these kids going around honking like geese.  “I don’t know who this is—honk!  Honk, honk!”  What kind of mom tells their kids to honk?  But that’s what they did.  She was concerned about them. 

Moms are concerned about adversity, and so is Peter.  He says, “You’ve got an opponent, Christian.  Your opponent is an adversary.”  That Greek word (antidikos) literally means an attorney prosecuting against you.  So get what Peter’s saying here.  He's picturing a courtroom where the devil, your enemy, is doing everything in his power to condemn you.  As the prosecuting attorney, he wants to prove to the Judge (Who is God) and to the jury (the watching world) that you are guilty.    So he is throwing everything at you he can.  He’s doing it to discredit and condemn you.  He can’t fight against God so the only thing he can do is make God look bad by making you look bad.  So what does he do?  He lives up to his name.  The word ‘devil’ (diabolos) literally means accuser or slanderer.  Literally it means to riddle with accusation. 

Right now, the devil is actively accusing the people of God before God.  “God, do You see what Badal does when he’s not preaching?  How can he be Your son?”   “God, do You see what Your people are doing?    How can they be Your children?” 

First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  The idea here is that a lion roars with greater frequency when it’s hungry.  So here’s the devil—he’s hungry and he’s prowling around.  He’s on all fours, he’s very quiet and he’s waiting to devour you.  That word ‘devour’ (katapinō) literally means to gulp up, to swallow.  He wants to tear you limb from limb, and then he wants to swallow you. 

 

Wonderful words on a Mother’s Day, isn’t it?  Be encouraged. 

So how does Satan do this?  He’s trying to trick you.  He’s trying to trip you up and overtake you.  Paul says he masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).  He deceives.  He did that with our parents in the Garden of Eden, and he does that today.  How does he do it?  He takes that which is evil and calls it good.  Just look at our world where what is evil is now called good, and the good that is in our world is now called evil.  Do you think the devil’s gotten away with it?  You’d better believe it.

He tells you that you deserve it.  He tells you if it feels good, then you need to do it.  He tells you lies and he tries to tell you that God doesn’t care about you; that He isn’t concerned about your wellbeing; that He doesn’t want what’s best for you.  So we fall victim to his schemes and as a result, we are devoured. 

Standing Against Satan’s Schemes

We need to recognize that if we are going to brace for the battle, it involves standing against the devil’s schemes.  How do we stand against him?  Notice the text says, “Be sober-minded” and “be watchful.”  Peter says if we are going to stand strong against the devil, these two truths must be there: sober-mindedness and watchfulness.  The idea here is twofold. 

When he says “sober-minded,” Peter is saying, “Don’t be drunk.”  He’s not speaking of physical intoxication per se—he’s speaking about going throughout life with no concern because you’re intoxicated with the things of this world. 

As followers of Jesus Christ, some of you are so infatuated with the world that you don’t even see the devil coming.  You’ve bought into all that’s going on in this world.  You’ve got no filter when you watch TV.  You’ve got no filter when you pursue entertainment.  You’ve got no filter when it comes to the people you’re hanging out with and the kind of things they’re bringing into your life.  There’s no filter and as a result you are ready to be destroyed by the devil.  You have no clue about it because you’re drunk on the things of this world.  Some of you are saying, “Yeah, what’s your problem, man?  You drunks out there, you’re pursuing all these things.  I’m not doing that.”  Peter has a word for you as well.  He says, “Be watchful.  Be alert.”  Peter’s using the same phrase Jesus used in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, “Watch and pray.”  Peter is probably cringing as he’s writing this.  What happened when Peter did not watch and pray?  He fell asleep.

You see, some of you aren’t drunk on the things of this world—you’re asleep.  Let me tell you why.  You think you’re protected because you’re in a good church and the devil can’t do anything in here.  Well, that’s important.  .  Maybe you’ve isolated yourself from the things of this world, thinking, “You know, my kids aren’t part of those bad things.  We’ve got them in places where we don’t have to worry about what they’re being taught or what they’re seeing.  We don’t have a TV in our house so we don’t have to worry about that.”

Let me tell you something.  Whether you’re consuming the things of this world or you think you’ve built up parameters of protection that are important, don’t ever fall asleep.  No matter what protection and parameters you put around your children and yourself, the devil can still get in and we need to be ready for that.  We need to understand what it means to be sober-minded, not consuming everything without a filter for our minds.  We also need to understand that no matter how many human protections we put around those we love and ourselves, the devil is craftier than all other creatures—he can get to you.

So we need to be ready for him.  That’s why it’s so important that we spend time with one another.  You see, the devil will always look for the weakest link.  Just watch the Discovery Channel and you’ll learn this.  The lion always goes after the weakest one, the one that’s wandered away from the flock.  He always goes after the one that’s by itself.  I don’t advertise videos very often, but one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time is called “The Battle at Kruger.”  It is a battle in Africa between a herd of wildebeests and a pride of lions.  The wildebeests don’t have a chance.  What you’ll see in that brief video is defeat when they were by themselves.  But when a group of wildebeests work together they can be victorious.  

Let me tell you something:  By ourselves, we don’t have a chance against the devil.   By ourselves, we are so susceptible to sin and temptation.  But when we strive together, when we work together, when we spend time together in humility, we’ve got an opportunity to beat back the devil.  But we need to do it together. 

You see, the devil wants you to think you’re the only one dealing with your specific problems.  The devil wants you to think you’re the only one dealing with that specific temptation.  He’s whispering in your ear  “You’re the only one with the problem.  You’re the only one who is a sinner.”  And then you keep it all to yourself and fight the battle by yourself.  God’s Word says, “Tell it to one another.  Confess your sins one to another.”  Why?  So we can help one another, so we can serve one another, so we can be of great encouragement to one another. 

At times, I’ve been told by people who have listened to my messages (usually pastors), “Tim, you’re way too transparent in your preaching.  Don’t tell people that you deal with all the sin you deal with.”  The reason I do it is so you don’t sit there and see this perfect individual up here.    You want to know how perfect I am?  Just talk to my mother.  I’m not perfect at all.  I’ve got real issues.  I’ve got real temptations.  I want to be honest about those so you walk away from this place and know that the devil’s fighting against your preacher just as much as he’s fighting against you.

Fortifying Your Faith

Here’s the truth: you can be victorious when you stand against the devil’s schemes.  How do you do that?  How do you stand toe-to-toe with the devil?  You do so by fortifying your faith.  Notice he says that we “resist him, firm in our faith.”

Throughout 1 Peter we have been shown God’s mercy.  We’ve been reminded of these truths:

  • We’re born again (1:3)  
  • We are involved in a new and living hope (1:3)
  • We are no longer conformed to the passions of our former ignorance (1:14) 
  • We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good(2:3)

We are—because of Jesus and the work He’s done in our lives—a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; we are a people belonging to God (2:9)

Because you belong to God, you are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:37).  Because you belong to God, no weapon formed against you will ever prosper.  When you start telling the devil these truths, and resisting him, he will flee from you (James 4:7).  So if the devil isn’t fleeing from you, you’re not fortifying your faith, reminding the devil of these truths about you and your position in Christ.  When you belong to God, you have a Great Shepherd and are called to be His faithful follower.

Understanding that Our Suffering Is Not Unique

But to do this we need to understand one other truth about the devil and that is we’re not the only ones in this battle.  Notice verse nine says, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 

Last week Godfrey was here and I heard people say, “Tim, we didn’t understand a word that guy said.  He talks funny.”  You know why we bring people who talk funny and are from a different part of the world into the church?  Because they love our Jesus.  We need to be reminded we’re not the only people in this fight.  There are brothers and sisters throughout the world who are enduring far more difficulties and struggles than we will ever know.  We need to hear from them and know what they’re doing.  We need to be praying for them.  They’re showing us what it means to honor God amidst suffering.

We need to recognize we’re not the only ones who’ve got a part in this battle.  We are side by side, hand in hand, with other brothers and sisters who are fighting along the way. 

Carrying Out Our Calling

This leads us to one final thing.  Just as my mom taught me, Peter reminds me to carry out my calling.  We won’t unpack all the different words in verse ten but I want you to see:  

  • Your suffering is temporal
  • God’s glory is eternal
  • Our position is unshakeable
  • God’s reign is unstoppable

Look at these things very quickly.  Wherever you are today, the suffering you’re enduring is temporal.  There’s a day coming when you’ll suffer no longer.  But what you will endure for the rest of eternity is the precious glory of God. 

Notice that in your suffering, your position is unshakeable.  Nothing can take the position you have away, because God’s reign is unstoppable. 

First Peter 5:10 states, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  To him be the dominion forever and ever.  Amen.”

Let’s pray.

Father God, we come before You as people who are enduring suffering.  We may have seemingly small worries and small anxieties, but Lord they concern us.  Some of us are dealing with real heartache and real struggles.  We know our brothers and sisters in some far-off lands are enduring incredible hardship, Lord.  This world is full of suffering, yet we know suffering is temporal but You are eternal.  We know that these might be light and momentary trials, but Your glory is forever.  Your glory is powerful and awesome.  One day we’re going to stand before Your throne and worship You day and night for all eternity.  We thank You that Your reign is forever. 

Lord, we know that this suffering is light and momentary but we know our position is sure.  We know that nobody—not even the devil himself—can snatch us out of the Father’s hands and for that we praise You.  We praise You that the devil—this scary lion who’s roaming about seeking whom he may gobble up and devour—is but a mere dog on Your leash.  One day You will lock up the devil and all his demons and throw them into the lake of fire where we will no longer have to deal with them.  So when the devil reminds us about our past, help us remind the devil of his future because he’s already defeated. 

Lord, humble us with these words this morning.  Remind us that we are Your children and without You we can do nothing.  Thank You for some motherly words from Peter on humility, adversity and the security that allows us to carry out Your calling in our lives.  As we go out into this hard world, may we be bright lights and stars in this world so people see our good deeds and glorify God.  In Christ’s name we pray.   Amen.